Unashamed, Idaho puts Craig in Hall of Fame

Associated Press

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, October 14, 2007

BOISE, IDAHO — Organizers had planned a pleasant dinner for Saturday, during which the tiny Idaho Hall of Fame would add a dozen inductees and renew its aim of honoring "real life heroes," as its Web site states.

Then Sen. Larry Craig, one of this year's honorees, got arrested in an airport men's room, and the private, nonprofit hall's quiet evening out turned into a media spectacle.

A smiling Craig, who served a decade in the House before his 1990 election to the Senate, arrived at the event with his family.

"He ... is excited that at least some Idahoans have not forgotten his three decades of public service to Idaho," his spokesman, Dan Whiting, said in an e-mail.

Craig, 62, was chosen for induction last spring, well before his arrest in a sex sting at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in June. Among the other inductees are Chris Petersen, coach of the Boise State football team, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, who is vying to replace Craig in 2008.

It just didn't seem right to renege on Craig's nomination, said Michael Ritz, a Hall of Fame board member.

"We thought, 'It's kind of going back on your word,' " he said.

Idaho's senior Republican lawmaker pleaded guilty in August to disorderly conduct, then unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his plea.